The Crazy Year that was Twenty Seventeen

The year just flew by really fast. I just remember that I did so many trips in the past year, mostly work.

Las Vegas in January

Manila for my 25th HS Jubilee

Mav and JM's wedding

Boracay with family

Wedding in Kalibo

March was quietly spent in Singapore with a visit from my grand nephew

Finally saw very pretty cherry blossoms in Tokyo

And got a haircut!

First time in Auckland in May

Sydney and Melbourne with the fambam

Weekend trip to Manila

Taipei

Hong Kong after 10 long years!

Got to see Tita Pet and Uncle Fumio again in Tokyo in July

Taipei again just before my birthday

Went to work on my birthday

Japan again, I don't exactly remember what I did there, possibly just all work.

Mama Mary book launch in Manila!

Then another trip to Taiwan I think

Family vacation in the US with the fambam

Korea with the beks!

Crazy 5-day Japan trip where I finally experienced the Shinkansen and traversed Tokyo to Nagoya to Osaka. Dropped dead when I got home.

Then spent time in Sydney.

2017 has been a really crazy year and I survived it through sheer willpower and the steadfast support of my family. The first half of the year was hard, but things eventually got better and busier. I hope to do much better in 2018! 

What Would You Do?

Yesterday I flew from Singapore to Sydney. Woke up before 4 in the morning to make it to my 7am flight. I was looking forward to getting some sleep for a few hours of the 7 hour flight. When I boarded I was surprised to find a man sitting on my assigned seat. I immediately got help from the crew and he requested for the man's boarding pass. Instead of showing his boarding pass the man said, "I like this seat! I don't want to move!" I always get an aisle seat because I usually need to go to the toilet several times, so I got a bit stressed already from his pronouncement. The flight crew insisted for him to move and I sat down. The man kept saying again and again that he wanted my seat. I ignored him and just went on with my business.

The man and his wife eventually started to argue and the woman moved to another seat in the back. There was a lot of shuffling around as they gathered their things. The flight was a bit delayed already since we had to wait for 3 connecting flights to arrive. The cabin was busy with people still coming in. I eventually fell asleep and got a rude awakening when I saw two feet just inches away from me.

I immediately reported it to the flight crew and the supervisor had him remove his feet. The man kept looking at me with accusing eyes. I ignored him and read a book. A few minutes later the supervisor approached me to check if I was okay and asked if I wanted to be re-seated. I said that I was only willing to move if there was an aisle seat available. There was none. I told him I should be okay as long as he stopped putting his feet up on the tray table. I thought that was the end of it.

After some refreshments I decided to take another nap. I was rudely awaked when I felt something on my leg. It was the man's feet! He had put his feet on the seat pocket and probably stretched. My body had reacted violently to the touch and he woke up as well. He did not apologize and just went back to sleep.

My friends said that I should not have flown in economy. I normally do since I don't need a lot of space and as long as I'm on the aisle I'm usually not bothered by anyone or anything. I prefer to keep my savings for flights to stay in better hotels. This was really a terrible incident. I don't fault the airline because it was entirely the bad attitude of the man that ruined my experience. He was mean, unapologetic and thought that he can just do whatever he wanted.

I could've probably insisted to be re-seated in a better seat. Looking back I should have done that because the stress has affected my body and it's been quite difficult to work today. And that's the reason why I decided to write about the incident -- to "download" it from my mind so I can move on.

If you were in that situation, what would you have done?

Norbert

I lost another friend today. It was really a huge surprise to me since he was always so jolly even when he'd share his pain on FB. I was really affected after I heard the news especially since it was his heart that had betrayed him.

I have been losing family and friends in the last few years and I always end up thinking why did I survive two open heart surgeries. My Dad when he was alive always told us that you're time will come once your mission is done. A friend pointed out to me that our journeys are all different. I told her I only survived by sheer willpower which my doctor said was the reason why I'm still alive. She said that me and her Dad are probably still here to share about our positive outlook in life. It does take special angels to remind us of where we should put our heart and mind in.

I wrote this poem for Norbert while I was walking home. I'm not a poet like my friends Tappy and Cathy, but somethings words just string together in my mind. This is what came to mind on my way home.

For Norbert

Death
Thief in the night
Stealing life
Losing moments permanently
Regret of time apart
Now we can only wish
To have reached out more

Farewell my friend
For you I promise to take care of myself better.

Forty Two and the Mama Mary Book

I started this post almost two months ago and things just got really busy since I celebrated my birthday. I've been zipping back and forth across Asia and other family trips so I haven't had time to sit down and blog.

After my birthday I managed to go home for an important occasion - the launch of Fr. James Reuter, SJ's book "Mama Mary and Her Children, Book 5". My good friend Rowie who is one of the editors of the book pinged me last year and asked for me to contribute a story for the book. Inspired I immediately wrote a story and sent it to her. They were hoping to launch it last year, but due to some unavoidable circumstances they were only able to launch it on Mama Mary's birthday this year.

It was my Mom who first cultivated my relationship with Mama Mary. She was the one who taught me the set of prayers that I use until today. During the launch I shared to the audience the best thing I learned from Mama Mary - obedience. I shared that I always had trouble in my life until the day that I gave up and just told God to lead me to where He wants me to be. I remember very clearly when that happened - late September in 2007 on a plane ride back from the US to Manila. I just gave up and told God to take over my life.

 With the other story contributors, Tita Cherry and Rowie.

And He did. Right after that things just started to fall into place. Whenever I had doubts I always just raise the issues with Him and always get clear answers on where I should go and what I should do. He's the best life compass.

The Mama Mary book is now available in National Bookstore. Rowie and Tita Cherry are also accepting stories for book 6. I'm happy to forward it to them if you are interested to submit.

Thank you Rowie and Tita Cherry for the opportunity to contribute my story (and my Kuya's). Our parents are really thrilled. I'm sure my Dad is dancing for joy with Fr. Reuter in heaven. <3

The Old Blogging Days

So there's been a lot of brouhaha in the blogosphere the past week due to a Tupperware incident. Nothing like good old tsismis to bring out old bloggers to converge in Plurk. There's been several incidents in the last few years and I usually just take it with a grain of salt. Kanya-kanyang trip naman yan and well we all have our own opinions. The only thought about this incident is just to provide a tip when attending events (or just generally when you go out) -- use ziplock bags! It's not bulky and you can always have one or two in your bag if you need to take out food.

Some bloggers mentioned about the Taste Asia food fest we had a couple of years back. I realized after doing a quick search on my Google Photos that it's not just a couple of years -- it's been ten years! The first event had about 150 bloggers and if I remember correctly more than 70% of those who attended blogged about the event. What we did was entirely an experiment and the arrangements we done purely on trust - provide the food, we'll invite blogger friends to come over. The goal of the evening was to provide an opportunity for bloggers to meet and sample the food at Taste Asia. It was originally meant for just 10 bloggers, but the list grew longer and SM said, "Let's do 150!"

It was an awesome event which resulted in the formation of long term friendships. I met a lot of people that night and it was super fun. I think it worked because we all just came together to learn about each other and what we blog about. It was just like your high school writing club where everyone was focused on their own niches. There was no competition, just pure respect for each others work.

Tech bloggers from that era.

Nung naki-pa-pic ako with the travel bloggers.

I guess it was just pure serendipity that provided that opportunity to me. I had no idea then why SM wanted to meet me. What they pitched to me sounded like a good way to bring people together and that's why I agreed to do it. It cemented my reputation though that I'm a "blogger". I still view blogging as a hobby for me. I don't see it as means of livelihood for myself (uhhh I only get Adsense payouts every few years hahaha), I leave the revenue generating activities to the experts. I ended the Taste Asia events because I learned that there were others who started to earn from it and the brands had different expectations as well. My goal was community building that's why I decided not to continue doing it. I am forever grateful though to SM for providing that opportunity because I met awesome friends that have been around in the last ten years.

Taste Asia 1 Photos
Taste Asia 2 Photos

*This post is dedicated to AJ and Coy. Missing both of you a lot. 

All We Need is Love

The world seems to have gone mad. The negativity seems to be constant. I wonder though if things were the same in the past and if the negativity is just amplified by the current platforms we are using. The world is much more connected now compared to the past. Information is just at the tip of our pointy finger (that's what I use on my phone). Are the amount of bad things happening today the same as before or much more? (The nerd in me wants to try to quantify it, I just don't have time to do research).

The Beatles song "All You Need is Love" sums up what I think we should all be reminded about.

"Love, love, love 

Love, love, love 

Love, love, love 

There's nothing you can do that can't be done 

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung 

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game 

It's easy Nothing you can make that can't be made 

No one you can save that can't be saved 

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time 

It's easy 

 All you need is love 

All you need is love 

All you need is love, love 

Love is all you need"

I remember when I was a kid I gifted my Mom with a tiny signage that read, "Do all things with great love." She placed it in the bathroom and it was a constant reminder for me to be mindful about my actions. I have retreated a lot of my public online activities especially on social media because it's been causing me a lot of stress (my number 1 enemy). I wonder how we humans can just show more love to each other... I think if we did we'd be able to lessen all the anger that's going around and hopefully the world will be a better place. 

Truefaith!

Truefaith has been one of my favorite bands since I was in college. I stumbled into their music while I was working on my PolSci thesis. I was meeting with our barangay's SK chair when he mentioned that the SK chair for Marcelo Green Village (Eugene Marfil - he's now officially part of the band)  was the brother of Truefaith's lead vocalist. I told him I had not heard about them and he promptly gave me free tickets to the gig. My thesismates were so happy we got free tickets. We went and that's when I fell in love with their music.

The song that got me hooked on Truefaith.

I was really ecstatic last week when I saw Medwin guest at ASAP. I always listen to their music either on my iPod (my very old one) or through Spotify. I collect their albums and bought new ones when my CD collection went underwater due to Typhoon Ondoy. How I wish I could go home and watch their concert on July 22 at the Solaire Theater.

Truefaith is one of the bands that has stuck to their brand of music. If you listen to all their albums their sound is consistent. They are unique and I like the fact that they don't follow trends. When you hear their song you know it's Truefaith. And more importantly, they always come out with original music. I'm looking forward to their new album which is set to come out in August/September this year.

I wish they visit Singapore and do a show here! =)

How I Keep My Composure

The last few months have been hard for me. I was getting sick from too much stress. I had to visit a doctor almost every week to work on my asthma. It was getting really bad and things culminated last Sunday when I had to be brought to the emergency room (aptly called A&E in Singapore). It took about four hours before they discharged me. I missed attending our quarterly review. I felt so miserable because I haven't been able to breathe properly in the last few months.

My family have been very supportive. I know they have been extremely worried about the state of my health. They are the ones who keep me afloat. It would have been easy to just give up and just make a mess of myself, but my boys have made sure I always keep my composure. That's why I love them to bits. They have been my constant guardian angels.

Very few people can detect my moods. Just a handful can determine if I'm going through something. I really appreciate my friends who check on me when they know I'm not doing well. I see them as my guardian angels since they usually steer me to the right path of thinking. I'm a worrywart and when I spiral down that path it eventually makes me sick. My friends don't know it, but they usually say the right things to remind me to respond instead of reacting.

I think I finally turned around last Tuesday. My family and friends have been praying for me. I think I'm back to my old self after having some Jollibee last Wednesday. I just hope and pray though that I will be able to manage my stress better so that my health can improve. Please pray for me too :)

The Way to Answer the Why

Taipei City

I loaded up hours worth of work to do on the plane for my flight to Taipei today. I have stuff figured out and just needed to put things in writing for our quarterly report. I didn't make a dent. My brain has been uncooperative the last few days since I've been sick. Fever does fry ones brain.

Ended up watching "My Ex and Whys" and it was the perfect movie for me to detach. I'm a LizQuen fan and I try to watch all their movies through TFC. I loved the movie because I related so much to it.

Many people now only know me and Sweetie. They don't know that there was so much drama in my life before he found me. I was pretty much like Cali before I met Sweetie. I had lost all hope to find my one true love. I had baggage and I was angry. I was untrusting and didn't entertain suitors. People in my previous work used to call me the ice queen behind my back.

I guess I got tired of it and eventually tried to see if I would find the right one. Ara Mina's character (Cali's mom) explained this very well. Why should we continue to try to find love? Because we live for love and if we don't try to find it then we would have lost our chance to love and be loved.

When I look back at my past I realize that I needed to go through all of it to understand and accept what was best for me. I can now look back fondly at the past -- the good and the bad -- because it's part of who I am today.

Maybe someday I can put all these experiences to good use and help others heal. :)

Cultivating Silence

I hid in my shell in the last month and a half. I have not blogged. Limited use of social media. I would read posts of family and friends just to keep updated, but posted sparingly. I thought it would just be good to take a step back and just "listen". I did this for two reasons: (1) as part of my Lenten sacrifice; (2) to recharge and detoxify from all the negativity. I also felt I was unproductive and helpless. I needed a reboot.

It was a slow painful process since I've been used to a daily routine -- wake up, reach for the phone, check social media, comment, post, do it again until I realize I'm running late for the bus. I timed myself and found out that I was spending way to much time online outside of work. So I started to limit time I spent online outside of work. I thought about getting out of social media but it's so far the best way to keep in touch with family and friends and it's a means for me to keep in touch with the communities I manage. So the limited time I spent online I just read, liked posts, commented and shared posts. No new content from me.

I call it "disentaglement". I was caught in a reactive maze and I had to get out of it. You read posts, get all worked up, comment, re-share and end up not really doing anything. I needed the silence to re-focus and become productive again. By late March I was a bunch of nerves preparing for our quarterly review. I was freaking out because in my own mind I didn't do well for the first quarter. My output wasn't at the level I expected. The stress was making me sick.

I was in a daze while presenting my reports because of the meds my doctor gave me. The good thing though, I was only stressed because of work. The added external stress from external negativity (I emphatize too much that's why) was no longer there.  As my Mom advised whenever I had to face a "test", remain calm. I did and I passed the review. I actually received more work to be done, but they said it's a good thing (haha).

Since Easter I decided to post again since I want to keep in touch with family and friends and let them know that I'm still alive and a busy bee as ever. I'm glad I went through the exercise of cultivating silence. As our coaching mentor taught us last year - growing and leading isn't about speaking your thoughts all the time, listen and ask the right questions.

Feeling anxious? Unproductive? A mess? Maybe you just need to disengage for awhile so you can go back to the spot where you can be your old productive self.

And, of course, pray. 

Panorama Photos of Beautiful Views

It's finally Friday! I know my posts the last few weeks have been quite heavy so I thought I'd share some beautiful view I've had the opportunity to see in my travels.

Boracay sunset. 

Crystal Cove, Boracay. 

 Good Shepherd, Baguio City.

Singapore at dusk. 

Tokyo view from Roppongi Hills. 

 Singapore from Esplanade.

View from Vivo City, Singapore. 

Sydney, near the Maritime Museum.

Sydney. 

Subic.

San Francisco. 

Palawan. 

Kamakura, Japan.

Dissonance on the Passing of the Death Penalty

Article III or the Bill of Rights in the 1987 Philippine Constitution solidly protects our rights as citizens. For this post I am making today I am invoking Article III Section 4 of the constitution,
"SECTION 4. No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances."

I am in disagreement with the vote my house representative made for the death penalty bill. Congressman Gus Tambunting, District 2, Paranaque City, voted to approve death penalty. The explanation he provided is most alarming based on the tweet shared by fellow Paranaqueno Raj Bay. The congressman explained based on the exchange that he voted based on the survey that was run in Paranaque. Three thousand six hundred citizens out of the 358,231* population in district 2 were purportedly surveyed on their thoughts about death penalty. The tweet explained that it was what the Paranaque citizens wanted. (Do take note that it's been a good 7 years since the population data has been updated.)

I did a short review of computing sample size for doing research (it's been awhile since I had special training on research with Dr. Ned). If the survey they ran was aiming for a 95% confidence and a 1.63 confidence interval (margin of error), then 3,600 should be about right as representation for the population. It would be really interesting to see the actual results of the survey and to know how they determined the sample. Where did they do the survey? And when did this happen? If you read the exchange between the congressman and Raj Bay he had asked the citizen if he was an expert on doing surveys so he could join the team the next time they do another survey. I do not think this was an appropriate question as the citizen was just asking for an explanation on his vote.

Death penalty is not like any other law. It is a law that would result in the loss of life. I wonder if the good congressman considered other factors aside from the survey. How did they determine what are heinous crimes? Who has given the State the right to kill? Did they even consider the ramifications of this law on our relations internationally? Isn't death penalty a crime against humanity?

At this point those who would be penalized with death penalty would presumably go through due process. The 7,000+ people that have been killed in the last 9 months had this right stripped of them -

"ARTICLE III SECTION 2. The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures of whatever nature and for any purpose shall be inviolable, and no search warrant or warrant of arrest shall issue except upon probable cause to be determined personally by the judge after examination under oath or affirmation of the complainant and the witnesses he may produce, and particularly describing the place to be searched and the persons or things to be seized." (1987 Philippine Constitution)

Each one of us, no matter whether we are rich or poor, have this right to be secure. There has been no due process with EJKs in the last 9 months. The obvious goal is to just get rid of drug addicts and pushers. But for death penalty, what is its purpose? As it is there has been no due process with the EJKs, what do we need death penalty for?

I am putting forward this strong dissonance to the vote my congressman did to pass death penalty and I think more than 3,600 Paranaquenos would agree that this was a very bad decision that was made by our congressman (and the other 216 too).

*Population data from 2010 survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority

What EDSA Means for Me

This is a belated post about EDSA.

I kicked off this post during the EDSA celebration weekend two weeks ago. Opened my "Google Photos" and searched for "EDSA" photos. I was trying to find the photo we took when me and my high school friends, Chare and Mercy, went to EDSA II (we were too young for EDSA I). The search coughed up photos of my travels, family gatherings, events etc. I was disappointed at first because the search result was incorrect, but I soon realized that those photos was what exactly EDSA represents.

Freedom.

Freedom to live your life as you wish.

Without fear.

Without apprehensions that you would be penalized.

I was just ten when People Power happened in 1986. I may have been too young during the martial law years, but I remember there was always fear. Everyone had to be home before sunset. My Dad always gave us a briefing about the political situation over dinner and sometimes he would do this in hushed tones. I guess it was because one of the ministers in the cabinet was our neighbor. I remember also that we had to stop doing our annual summer vacations in Bicol because times were too dangerous. There was always danger. I wasn't even allowed to play in the street.

Fear ruled our lives.

And as I look at the many photos I have in my archive I realized that all of this would not be possible if not for EDSA. My life would probably be very different. I would not have been able to establish the communities I have worked on in the last ten years. I would not have been able to meet all the friends I now have across the country. I would probably not have the chance to go around beautiful Mindanao. I would not have the chance to meet all the friends I have in other countries.

It's really sad that this fear is back. My Mom, my colleagues keep telling me to just stay where I am right now. And it's really sad not to know what I could do as well. I don't think another EDSA will fix it because transformation has to come from each one of us. So I just pray that things would go back to what's best for our country. 

The Epic SSC Uninety2 Silver Jubilee

I took a breather after my last post. Went home to Manila to attend 2 weddings and my high school batch silver jubilee homecoming. The ten days back home was horrendously busy and by the time homecoming day came my body was exhausted (mainly due to some misadventures leading to the day). I did not want to miss it and took a short nap before going to my alma mater.

My long time friend since second grade Ottie picked me up at home and while we were stuck in traffic we talked about a myriad of things we went through in high school. We both looked forward to seeing our classmates. Sadly we were not able to convince our other close friends to come.

I have visited my high school only thrice I think since graduation. Once to pick up my yearbook, a meeting in 2008 and our 20th year high school reunion. I thought things would be exactly the same. I was wrong. There were so many changes in the campus - new buildings, the huge hall where we used to watch plays/concerts and attend assemblies was fully renovated, the lunch counter where we used to eat was moved to another area and the canteen was totally different.

Rica, Emily, Shirley, me and Ottie (photo is owned by Rica)

We started to bump into classmates during registration. Squeals of delight kept reverberating through the hall. We promptly changed to our batch shirt and shuffled into St. Cecilia's Hall to watch the show. The show was AMAZING! Our batch kicked off the show with the Aeago cheer and a dance medley. Here's the video taken by a batchmate -

After the speeches the different batches celebrating their pearl, coral, ruby, sapphire and golden jubilees indulged the audience with their awesome presentations. I challenged my sister who will be celebrating their ruby year next year to top the ruby year presentation this year. She said it's going to be very hard!

In between the presentations, we honored our beloved teachers. I was teary eyed when they all stood up and went to the front because we grew up and learned with them. My grade school principal was also present (and she looks exactly the same)!

And to cap the show, our batchmates did a final presentation. I had been seeing them share photos of the practices in the past year. They really worked hard to make everyone happy and entertained that evening. My PE teacher, Tikyo, couldn't get over the presentation and kept saying that the girls really did well.

After the show we all scrambled to the stage to meet-up with our classmates. We tried to get a complete 4-A class photo by the backdrop and then headed to the field for dinner.

Ottie and I had a grand time posing beside the Trailblazer (which was eventually won by our classmate!). Hopefully we get to ride on it once she gets the car!

Photobooth time! (Thank you to my seatmate Rica A. for sponsoring the photo booth!).

It was such a happy day catching up with old friends and we hope to have more meet-ups in the coming months!

Here's a video summary of the day (thank you Rica and Lala for this!).

And my gazillion photos of the day is here. Photobooth photos here.